Everlasting Memories
by Twinstar1
Summary: This a just a cute fic I made about Sora and Riku. It's Sora's 18th birthday and he starts noticing something in his heart. R&R please. M/M.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Kingdom Hearts. I am making this just because I am a huge fan of the game and do not intend to make a profit from this.

** Everlasting Memories**

** Chapter 1: Birthday Blues**

The afternoon was hot and dry. The sun was beaming its rays down upon everything it could touch. Nothing could escape its wrath. Not even the people on the streets who were walking in every direction and crowding the sidewalks. Some tried to wear a hat in an attempt to keep their heads in the shade, while others cranked up their A/C's in their cars as they sat in traffic.

For one boy in particular, his thoughts were what shielded him from the blistering heat. Don't get me wrong though, he did feel the heat. His damp, sweat-filled, hair and burned, red, cheeks were enough evidence to show otherwise. But he didn't seem to notice those things as he walked down the busy street.

His name was Sora. He was 17 years old and had the most adorable facial features. He had a small nose, gorgeous, sapphire-blue eyes and a smile that made him stand out in any crowd.

But today, he wasn't really smiling, aside from the occasional smirk or giggle he would display as thoughts played out in his head. His thoughts were filled with the memories of his friends and everything he had been through in the past couple of years. He had gone through so much, but was now glad it was over. His most prominent thoughts were of his two closest friends, Kairi and Riku.

Sora had always had a thing for Kairi. They were both the same age and basically grew up together after she moved to the islands. She was pretty with her bright, red hair and deep, blue eyes. It was obvious back then that they liked each other, but it had seemed to change over time. While Sora was on his journey to find Riku, Kairi spent a lot of time by herself, which in turn, gave her time to think. She had wondered why Sora was spending so much time looking for Riku, and so soon after being able to finally return home. She thought she was being selfish but then again, Sora did always say that as long as Riku was okay, that he knew Riku would come back anyway. Not that he knew for sure that Riku was okay, but he was with the king, and they both had a gut feeling he was fine. She also knew that if Riku did return, that things would probably change, and they did. When Sora came back with Riku, she was of course happy to see them, especially Sora. But when she looked at Sora's face, she felt differently about him. She just didn't feel the same way about him. She would watch him as he hung out with Riku and paid attention to how they talked and looked at each other. It was clear to her that their bond became much stronger and hers with Sora, was disappearing. She came to a conclusion and talked to Sora about it. She told him how she used to feel about him and how it had changed. Sora was upset about it, but somehow got over it quite quickly. His heart was crushed, but he had Riku there to help him from feeling hurt. Sora and Kairi would still talk, but they started seeing less of each other. Sora still had some feelings for her, but his heart would back off when he looked at her and played those words back to himself in his head.

Things were about to change for Sora though. His 18th birthday was fast approaching, and he was getting very excited. Sora wasn't sure what was bring planned but he knew he was going to have fun anyway.

As Sora continued to walk down the street, he started humming to himself. He hummed that happy, little birthday tune. He would have started skipping if it wasn't for the mass of people around him.

"It's not your birthday yet you know."

Sora turned around to face who spoke to him. It was Riku, who had been looking for Sora all afternoon.

"Oh, I know. I guess I'm just getting a little excited." He replied, showing off his trademark smile.

"I've been looking for you."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"Well . . . on the subject of your birthday . . . " Riku started as he turned his head to the side to avoid Sora's gaze.

"Oh . . . if it's about a present, you know you don't have to get me anything. Just having you spend time with me is enough." He continued to smile.

"That's the thing. It's not about the gift. It's about me being there."

Sora's smile quickly disappeared and disappointment quickly took over.

"What do you mean, Riku?"

"Well . . . I can't see you this weekend."

"But why?"

"I have to go to my Grandma's house."

"When are you leaving?" Sora managed to say while holding back a whimper.

"I'm actually leaving tonight and I won't be back till Monday afternoon." Riku turned around, away from Sora. "I'm so sorry, Sora."

"It's okay, Riku." Sora replied. He was trying so hard not to cry. "It's just a birthday. It's no big deal."

Riku quickly turned around and grabbed Sora by the shoulders. "Of course it's a big deal! You only turn 18 once. I really wanted to be there too . . . "

"It's too bad that you have to leave tonight too. We could have hung out together. Why do you have to leave tonight anyway?"

"It's the only day I can get a ride there."

"Oh . . . " was Sora's only reply.

"Maybe we can spend next weekend together." Riku smiled.

"Yeah."

"I have to go pack now. So I'll be stopping over on Monday to say hi." And with that said, Riku turned around and waved as he walked away.

"Bye . . . Riku . . . " Sora whispered as he waved.

Sora pouted but managed not to cry. He had always been close to his sliver-haired friend. Riku was a year older than Sora but he always stuck by him since they were little. Riku was Sora's best friend since even before Kairi moved to the islands. Riku was always jealous of Kairi but got over it when he noticed Sora wasn't spending as much time with her. He had wondered what happened between then, but avoided bringing it up.

Sora was feeling down now but he knew it wasn't the last time he'd see Riku anyway.

The days passed by and Sora was missing Riku more and more. The excitement of his birthday had faded, even though it was the next day. He was sitting in the ice cream parlor with his other two friends, Tidus and Wakka. Tidus was the same age as Sora and had spiky, blond hair. You would always see him hanging around with Wakka, since they were on the same Blitzball team. Wakka was a year older and had orange hair that had an odd twist to its shape. He stood out because of his surfer-like accent and the fact that he tended to put "ya" at the end of everything he said.

Sora was eating his favorite kind of ice cream, but didn't care much. He had too much on his mind.

"Sora, is something wrong?" Asked Tidus as he stared at Sora's blank expression.

"What's on your mind, ya?" Wakka added.

"Oh, sorry guys. I guess I'm just a bit bummed out." Sora replied while displaying a fake smile.

"What could you be bummed out about, ya? Your birthday is tomorrow." Stated Wakka.

"Yeah, but Riku's not going to be there." Sora said with a pout.

Wakka and Tidus looked at each other and could feel Sora's sadness.

"Sora, Riku is planning . . . " Wakka started to say but Tidus cut him off.

"Shh . . . remember?" Tidus whispered as he held his hand over Wakka's mouth.

"Oh yeah. Well, what I was going to say was . . . uh . . . he'll be planning on seeing you on Monday though, right?" Wakka rephrased.

Sora, being as naive as he is, didn't noticed Wakka's slight slip up.

"I guess you're right. I'm just not used to not having him around for this long." Sora sighed as he stabbed his ice cream with his spoon.

"Well, Sora. Wakka and I have to go now, but cheer up. I'm sure tomorrow will be fun, even without him there." Tidus said as he watched Sora stare at his bowl.

"We'll see ya then, ya." Wakka waved to Sora as the two of them walked out of the store.

'I guess I'll just have to make the best of it. It's not like I'll be completely alone tomorrow.' He thought to himself. And with that, he finished his ice cream and left.

When Sora got home, his mom was in the kitchen making dinner. He could smell/hear the fish sizzling on the frying pan. He usually loved fish for dinner, but he didn't feel that hungry. He walked past his mother and headed for the stairs.

"Hi, Sora honey. Kairi called for you. She said to call her back."

"Thanks mom." He yelled back, then continued up the stairs.

Once in his room, he picked up the phone. He dialed her number and kept wondering why she would call him.

The phone rang twice and then Kairi answered.

"Hello? This is Kairi."

"Hi, Kairi. I heard you called me earlier."

"Yes, I did. I was wondering if I could come over for a bit."

"Um . . . sure. What's up?"

"Nothing really. I heard you've been a bit down lately so I thought I might as well give you your present early."

"Oh . . . um . . . sure. You can come over. When did you wanna come by?" He wasn't sure if he wanted her over but he would have felt bad to say no.

"Is now okay?"

"Well, we're about to have dinner . . . maybe in an hour."

"Okay. I'll see ya then." She said happily as she hung up the phone.

"Okay . . . " He said as he heard the click. He then sighed as he hung up the phone.

A few seconds later, he heard his mom yell that dinner was ready. He got up and went back downstairs. Then he sat at the table.

"So . . . how is Kairi?" His mom asked as she set the plate in front of Sora, then sat down as well.

"She's doing okay. She'll be coming over for a bit in an hour."

"Okay." His mom always thought Kairi was a nice girl and had wondered when she was going to visit again.

After they finished eating, Sora went back to his room. He laid down on his bed and turned on the tv. His room was small but it suited him. His tv was on a dresser at the end of his bed and he had a desk beside his bed, on the right side. His bed was in the corner of his room where the windows were.

He started to drift off to sleep when he heard a knock on his door. It took him a second but he finally answered, "Come in."

The door slowly opened and Kairi popped her head in. Sora figured his mom would just send her upstairs once she arrived.

"You decent?" She joked.

"Ha . . . ha," He yawned.

Kairi closed the door and pulled out the chair from the desk. She sat down and faced Sora, who was now on his side, still laying on the bed. For some reason, Kairi seemed nervous. Sora didn't know what to think as he watched her fidget.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothings wrong. I'm . . . I'm just hoping you'll like your present." She replied as she picked up the bag she brought in and took out the gift. She handed it to Sora after he sat up, feet hanging off the side of the bed.

"Thanks." He said, trying not to blush. He looked at the tag and read it out loud, "To Sora. From Kairi and Selphie?" He looked over at Kairi.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I couldn't make it myself. She had to help too." She giggled.

He blinked a couple of times but then started to rip off the blue paper. Inside was a big book. It was a photo album to be exact. It had a shiny, navy-blue cover with a space in the middle which held a picture. The picture was of Sora, Kairi and Riku. He remembered the picture too because it was taken the day they started building their raft together. Sora was speechless. Kairi had never done anything so thoughtful.

"Kairi . . . I . . . "

"It's okay. I couldn't think of anything else to give you. Open it up." She smiled.

So he did. The first page had a bunch of pictures similar to the one on the front. He looked at how much they had changed over just a couple of years.

"Wow, we really change since that day we started the raft. You've changed a lot."

"For the better, right?" She joked again.

Sora laughed. "Yeah."

"Wow." He said as he got further in the album. He spotted some pictures from when Kairi moved to the islands and they met for the first time.

"I had asked our moms if they had any pics to put in as well."

"When did you do that? How did you get them from my mom? I don't remember seeing you do that." He couldn't think of when she could have talked to his mom.

"I had my ways." Was all she would tell him.

As he flipped through the second half of the album, he started noticing a trend.

"Why are there so many pics of Riku and me? These last few pages I went through have only the two of us."

"Well, there are a couple of reasons." She started off. "One, you two are best friends. You've known each other before I even arrived here. Two, you guys were always doing fun things, like competing against each other."

"Oh, yeah. I guess so." He smiled. But his smile soon faded and his eyes closed half way as he looked closer at the pictures, especially the ones of the present Riku. He couldn't help but stare at the boy's silver hair that flowed past his shoulders. And don't forget to mention, his drop dead, gorgeous, aqua eyes. He was really missing him.

"And that's another reason, Sora."

Sora looked at Kairi with a confused look.

"The main reason is . . . you two seem to like each other."

Sora jumped up and dropped the album in the process. His face was glowing a bright red.

"Wha . . . ? ! We what?!" Sora could barely speak.

Kairi couldn't help but to burst out laughing. "Yes, Sora. Everyone can tell."

"But . . . uh . . . we don't . . . we couldn't . . . he couldn't . . . "

"Whatever, Sora." She couldn't stop laughing. "Look. I'm going home. I'll be seeing you tomorrow anyway. Just look through the album a bit more and I think you'll see what everyone else can see." She then got up and left. He could still hear her laughing as she walked down the stairs.

He picked up the album and opened it up again. He looked through the pictures again and couldn't understand what she meant. He couldn't see what she could. He sighed. He laid down on his bed again and held the book up above him. He stared at it, focusing on Riku. He started seeing the way Riku would look at him sometimes, but he soon started to get too tired and soon fell asleep with the book in his arms.

As he slept, he would whisper, "Riku . . . I . . . lov . . . Riku . . . stay . . . with . . . Riku . . . kis . . ."

A/N: So, what cha think so far? Please review to let me know. I'm already almost done the second chapter and it might be the final chapter depending on how I finish it. And sorry if there are any mistakes. I don't have the internet at home and I probably won't for a while. So I have to upload my stuff at the library and it's possible something could get messed up during the transfers to their cruddy computers


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